


It's Destiny, After All

by elfenphoenix



Series: Predestination [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Do NOT read if you haven't read Predestination, M/M, One-Shot, a thanks for 1000 kudos on Predestination
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-02
Updated: 2017-06-02
Packaged: 2018-11-08 07:31:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11076915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elfenphoenix/pseuds/elfenphoenix
Summary: What really happened in the past? Who was Marmora, and why does he look like Keith? There are a lot of questions, and Keith has a feeling that the Red Lion has the answers, but he's not talking. But when he and Red go on a journey in search of the past, what they really find is their connection to each other.A brief one-shot as a thank you for reaching 1000 kudos on "Predestination".





	It's Destiny, After All

**Author's Note:**

> Again, please please PLEASE don't read this if you haven't read Predestination (the first part in this "series"), since there are a lot of spoilers in here if you haven't.
> 
> I wrote this as an offshoot, as a way to thank everyone who left comments and kudos on "Predestination", for helping me get to the high goal of a whole 1000 kudos and over 10,000 hits! I was blown away by the response, and I wanted to give you all something to show my appreciation.
> 
> Many of you expressed interest in what happened with Keith and the Red Lion, since all of the present-day blurbs were told from Lance's point of view, so this is for you guys. I hope you like it!

As Lance explained to all of the Castle of Lions’ current crew what Blue had told him about the events of the past-- Marmora’s death protecting Allura and Coran, King Alfor’s influence on their memories-- Keith wondered why he hadn’t been told any of these things by _Red_. Blue may have been a part of all of the events in the past, but it was Marmora that Allura and Coran had forgotten, and Marmora had been Red’s Paladin. All of the chaos and confusion spiraling around Marmora… Red had been there when he’d died, but had never told Keith about any of it.

Actually, Red had never told Keith _anything_ . He wasn’t the most talkative Lion, even without using actual _words_. He only communicated ideas to Keith if he felt it was absolutely necessary. And how could he… how could he pilot the Black Lion if he couldn’t even bond with his own Lion?

It felt like his whole life was just one series of questions after another. Where his mother had gone. Why he always felt out of place. Why he could feel the pull to the Blue Lion, when no one else had. Why he had one of the knives from the Blade of Marmora. How he was somehow Galra. How Shiro had disappeared.

And now all of this had only spawned more questions he felt powerless to answer. Who was Marmora? Why did he betray Zarkon? And why did he look so much like Keith?

Keith looked down at the holo-screen he’d found in his room. It still displayed that picture of Althos-- Allura’s cousin, apparently-- rather than flipping through pictures the way the holo-screen in Lance’s room had. Maybe this one was the only one Marmora had.

Curious, Keith returned to his room, wondering if there were any other memories hidden in that room that he’d never bothered to look for. It had been dusty when he’d first gone to sleep in it, the first night they spent in the Castle. He’d figured it was just because it had been unused for ten thousand years.

But now he methodically went through its contents. The thin bedspread, the blank walls… then the closet, filled with Altean clothes. He had figured that all of the rooms in the Castle had standard clothes in them, in case of refugees, but he hadn’t really realized that the clothes in each of their rooms, including Lance’s ridiculous Blue Lion fuzzy slippers… all seemed to match their Lions. These weren’t just random clothes stocked by the castle… they had literally been walking in the shoes of the Paladins of old.

Keith pulled the clothes out, one by one, neatly folding them and setting them onto the bed as soon as he was done with every piece. Black and red tunics, cloaks, pajamas, even a pair of Red Lion fuzzy slippers that matched Lance’s.

As he dug deeper, though, he found things that didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the closet’s contents. A neatly folded set of blue and white Altean clothes, including a light blue cloak with a large hood, sat atop a box in a protected corner of the closet, as if its owner was afraid to disturb it. He removed the clothes, setting them on the bed with the others, and then curiously opened the box.

Galra flight suits. Four of them, completely identical to each other, with a fifth being slightly more decorated, with more metal, a bit more violet trimming standing out against the black, stretchy fabric.

Keith’s heart jumped. So it was true, then. Marmora had been a Galra pilot. He had been the Red Paladin, and this had been his room.

He tasted bile in his throat, and swallowed it down, carefully putting the clothes back into the closet as neatly as he’d found them. Everything seemed to have a specific place in Marmora’s room. It was carefully organized, but… empty. The holo-screen seemed to be the only thing in there just for sentimentality. Marmora had definitely been a soldier, but more than that… something about the emptiness of the room made it feel to Keith like Marmora had barely spent any time in there at all.

He sat down on the bed, looking around at the bare walls. He wasn’t sure what he’d been trying to accomplish, going through a dead guy’s stuff. Maybe he was just trying to ground himself, to get a personal grip on reality. It was one thing to hear it from Lance, secondhand from the Blue Lion, but it was another to hold the evidence in his own hands.

But it wasn’t enough. All it had done was confirm what he had already known: he was following in the footsteps of a Galra soldier who had decided to fight alongside Voltron, rather than alongside Zarkon. But it didn’t answer any of the other questions. It left him just as confused and unsatisfied as he’d always been. But there was someone who knew the answers. Someone who had refused to tell him anything. But that was going to change. Keith would make sure of it.

~~~~~

Keith dropped into the Red Lion’s cockpit, taking a deep breath as he settled himself down into the pilot’s chair. It was so quiet, alone in his Lion’s docking bay. Red made no motion to awaken, aside from opening the cockpit, and so there was no sound of circuitry whirring, or energy pulsing… it was just… quiet.

“I know you can understand me,” he said out loud, if for nothing else than to fill the silence. “We’re supposed to be bonded, aren’t we? I mean… I can _feel_ your presence. I found you on the Galra ship, and you’ve come to save me from space… however many times now. So why haven’t you told me anything about the past? You were there. You know. Just… tell me. I need to understand.”

No answer.

Keith gripped the edge of his chair in frustration. “Dammit, Red, I deserve to know!”

When Red still did not answer, Keith grit his teeth and grabbed hold of the joystick, forcing Red to wake up, blasting out of the docking bay, soaring out into space. He pushed the Lion’s engines as fast as they could go, dodging asteroids and comets, roaring through space at speeds that blurred his vision, and yet he never collided with anything. His eyes were seeing, his body reacting immediately, even though in his mind, he was desperately searching for Red’s consciousness.

It was there, an aura of power, but it was like a wall in his head. Hard, unyielding, like the energy barrier Red erected around himself whenever he was separated from his Paladin. But this time, it was separating him _from_ his Paladin.

Keith saw a huge gas giant planet rising ahead of them, and headed straight toward it. “Talk to me Red. _Please_.”

He plunged into the gas clouds, in his frustration, blasting at chunks of rock that threatened to slam into the Red Lion’s sides. The fire from the main cannon ignited the gas, turning the whole surrounding area into a cloud of flame, spiraling around them, licking at the Lion’s sides as if trying to make its way inside.

In his mind, Keith felt Red’s resistance to him weaken, and then break. But rather than words, or images, or memories, what flooded into Keith was _pain_.

It was pain unlike anything he’d felt before. No cramped muscles, bruises, broken bones, black eyes, cuts, scrapes… nothing compared to this. It was a pain that seemed to scrape him clean from the inside, clawing away at his head, his eyes, his heart, his stomach.

Keith doubled over with the pain, his breath suddenly sucked away. Did this come from _Red_?! Was the firestorm around them actually doing that much damage?

But no-- it wasn’t that. This came not from any kind of physical pain, but a longing. Grief. Loneliness. Regret. _Fear_. It poured into Keith’s head, too much, too fast. He wasn’t sure if he could take any more of it.

But finally it slowed, fading into a dull, pulsing ache that beat against his skull. And then:

 _You do not want to know what I have seen_.

Keith gasped for breath, trying to comprehend the words that had ghosted through his mind. So this was Red’s voice.

He looked out the window, finding the firestorm to have abated, that they were again simply surrounded by the swirling gas clouds of the giant planet.

“I have to know,” he breathed.

Red growled, and then they were flying out of the gas giant, going back through space. A wormhole opened up in front of them, and Keith swallowed. He couldn’t afford to hesitate. He knew that Red would seize upon every weakness as a reason not to trust him. He needed Red to have faith in him.

They flew through the wormhole, exiting into the space around a planet that looked… oddly familiar. Like he’d seen it before in a photograph.

“Is that… Mars?”

 _It’s where I was born_ , Red answered. _But yes, I believe you humans do call it that._

And then memories flooded into Keith’s head. King Alfor standing behind Marmora inside Red’s cockpit, telling him that even in the most desolate of places, there was hope. Marmora telling Althos to wait for him on Earth. A promise. A broken promise.

He took a deep breath and let the images come to him, closing his eyes and trying his best to understand. He saw the fall of the Galra homeworld through Red’s eyes, and then suddenly the perspective shifted, and he was not looking through Red, but through Marmora himself. He’d never thought that was a thing that could happen. Coran had always told him to try to see through the Lion’s eyes, but he’d never realized that the Lion could also see through _his_.

He watched the destruction of the homeworld as if he was there. The crumbling red rock. The screaming Galra people. A woman, stabbed in the back by a Galra sentry while she was too weakened to fight.

And with the images came pain, only a fraction of what he’d felt earlier, but nonetheless, it felt like he was shattering. Desperation, hopelessness. Were these Marmora’s thoughts?

Telling Red not to come. To save himself. Red not listening, coming to save him anyway. The planet exploding, red rock raining against his sides.

And then it was the battle of Altea. Fire raging through the city. An Altean noblewoman with dead eyes. Althos, carving the image of a bird and spear into the metal of Marmora’s blade. Wormholes opening in the space around the Castle of Lions. Marmora staying to fight, knowing he wouldn’t win.

Keith watched, and _felt_ the battle play out. He felt every energy blast that pulsed through Red’s armor, the Lion’s pain from every bit of damage he took. And then the moment when Red could no longer move. He felt the helplessness, the grief as he watched Marmora die through Red’s eyes.

And it hurt. He didn’t know whose pain he was feeling. His own? The Lion’s? Marmora’s? He couldn’t tell. All of it just spiraled together, building into the same flood of emotion he had felt before, enough to cripple anyone. And this had been what Red had been holding inside himself for _ten thousand years_?

Keith let his eyes open, and the images abated. “You’re _scared_. That’s it, isn’t it? That’s why you won’t let me in. You’re afraid… that I’m going to end up the same way Marmora did. So you don’t want to get attached.”

 _Which one of us is scared?_ The Lion growled, sounding insulted by Keith’s insight. _You didn’t even trust the Black Paladin enough to tell him about the Galra knife. You refuse to tell the Blue Paladin how you feel about him. You hold even your closest friends at arm’s length. You’re too frightened of being alone to let anyone really get to know you. Isn’t that right?_

Keith grit his teeth, tightening his grip on the joystick. Red was right. He was completely, one hundred percent right. And why wouldn’t he be? While it took enormous effort for Keith to be able to enter the Lion’s thoughts, Red seemed to be able to read him effortlessly.

“Then I guess that’s something we have in common,” he finally said, opening his eyes and looking down at the rust-red planet below them, which looked so much like the now-destroyed Galra homeworld.

Red was quiet for a moment, falling still.

_It is. We are more similar than you realize, Keith Kogane._

“And Marmora? Why did you choose him?”

_For the same reason I chose you._

“I don’t understand, Red. Why… why does everyone say he looks like me? Even _I’m_ starting to think so, the more I look at pictures of him. Am I related to him or something? The part of me that’s Galra?

Red seemed to laugh, dropping down through the atmosphere of Mars. _He is not your ancestor, Keith. He is_ **you**.

“Huh?”

_I can’t explain it. But Blue and I agree… you and Marmora are not similar, you are the exact same. Different life experiences, but the same soul. It’s the same with Althos and Lance._

“What about the others? Pidge and Hunk?”

 _No,_ Red answered, alighting gently on the red dust of Mars’ surface. Next to them rose a huge, domed volcano, so massive it seemed to take up half of the sky. _Only the two of you._

Keith paused, staring up at the volcano. “What am I supposed to do with that information?”

 _You asked for answers, and I gave them._ Red replied, with what Keith could only describe as a mental shrug. _You wanted to know about Marmora, and I showed you. I relived all of my most painful memories, just so you could feel satisfied, so I hope you’re happy._

Keith winced. “Sorry.”

 _And honestly, I don’t know why I even bothered. You’re just going to leave me, anyway._ He continued, sounding hurt. _You know, just because Shiro told you that you can lead Voltron, that doesn’t mean you can be the Black Paladin._

“Red, are you… _jealous_?”

_I am five ticks from ejecting you from the cockpit and leaving you here to die._

“Okay, shutting up.”

 _I mean it, Keith. Marmora tried to pilot the Black Lion, to get her away from Zarkon, and he couldn’t. Even though she_ knew _that what Zarkon was doing was wrong, she couldn’t help it. She was broken, Keith. Still probably is. If the Black Lion were a biological organism, she would likely have gone insane. And maybe she was starting to heal, with Shiro. Do you really think, after all of that, finally letting herself trust her Paladin again, that she’d let you pilot her?_

“I guess not.”

_I’m not saying that you can’t be a leader. You can. Marmora could. But I’m telling you that being a leader needs to be your choice. Not just because Shiro said you should be. He can make mistakes, Keith. He’s not perfect._

“Are you telling me not to trust Shiro?”

 _Yes,_ Red answered, sounding firm, but sad.

“But you just yelled at me for not trusting my friends!”

 _I’m telling you to not trust_ blindly _. I’m telling you to have healthy doubt. I believe that Shiro is a good person, but so was Zarkon. No one even considered that he_ could _be wrong, and that’s why he was able to turn into such a monster. No one ever thought to question him until it was too late. I’m telling you to not make the same mistakes as the Paladins of old. You have a second chance at happiness, Keith, even if you don’t remember it yourself. Don’t let this story end the same way theirs did._

Keith stared up at the stars, recognizing a lot of them. They were so close to Earth… in Red, he could probably get there almost instantly. He could go back, pretend none of this had ever happened.

“So what do you want me to do?”

_I want you to go back to the Castle, find the Blue Paladin, and challenge him to a kissing contest._

“W-what?!” Keith blurted, his face turning bright red. “Why would I do that?!”

_Because it will be fun. For me at least. And you, too, probably. I mean, there are no losers in a kissing contest._

Keith rolled his eyes, gripping the controls and guiding Red back up into the starry sky. “There is no way I’m doing that.”

_Coward._

“I am not doing that!” Keith argued, even as they flew back through the wormhole, emerging in view of the Castle of Lions. “I thought this was a serious discussion!”

_I am being serious. It’s destiny, after all._

Keith thought of Lance, one eyebrow raised, hands on his hips, leaning over and complaining, “That’s _my_ lunch table, you!” In one second, he’d been sold. But that boy deserved much better than him. Someone who would bring more than chaos and confusion to his life. But if it was destiny… if it was, then maybe it would be okay to just let it happen. Not think about whether he _deserved_ to be there.

He flew back to the docking bay, allowing Red to settle back down, his eyes dimming even as his energy barrier rose. He looked up at the Lion, feeling a lot more at peace with himself. There were still a lot of questions he didn’t have answers to. But he’d find them eventually. It might hurt. This might not be the last time he’d feel the kind of pain Red had flooded him with.

But at least now, he was ready for it. It was alright to be scared-- he realized that now. That kind of pain was a side effect of loving someone. But the happiness felt from loving someone? It was worth the cost.

He started heading to the training deck, smiling a bit to himself. Yeah, he was going to move forward. He would find Shiro and Pidge’s family, take down the rest of the Galra Empire… and finish what Marmora started. And he would do it, together with Red. And Lance, if he would let him.

**Author's Note:**

> Again, thank you all for the incredible response to "Predestination". I can't really express how much it means to me. Before I wrote it, I was starting to seriously have doubts in my abilities as a creative writer, and wondered if it was really something I wanted to pursue as a career. I was pretty quickly losing any motivation to write. But after I wrote Predestination, and I started reading everyone's comments and bookmark tags, I felt love for writing again. You guys gave my confidence back. I know that sounds really sappy, but it's true. 
> 
> I can't promise I'll be able to turn out a story like Predestination again, since the whole thing had me gripped so tightly that I couldn't sleep without thinking of it. It just felt like something I HAD to write. But, at least, I'm going to try. :)


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